"A government response to a flood typically involves operational assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard. But as data streams become faster and more efficient, research agencies like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also supporting those operations – with real-time data and analysis."

NOAA has developed a national water model that delivers three different reports on the state of water flow and soil saturation. The data is released in three channels in regular intervals throughout the day and provides the most comprehensive look at the nation’s creeks, streams and rivers that has ever existed. NASA, meanwhile, has created a rapid-response team that provides data and analysis to organizations like FEMA; it has responded with satellite mapping of the Nepalese earthquake and data on rainfall for the recent deadly flooding in Louisiana.

Dalia Kirschbaum, a disaster response coordinator for NASA, said the rapid response team has only been in existence for about a year, and it is still trying to determine its role in disasters such as the one unfolding in Louisiana. This means talking to FEMA every day during an event that both organizations are responding to; these conversations give responders a better understanding of the data and products that NASA can provide.